24 Thursday Feb 2022
Posted in food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
spent some quality time in the kitchen recently…
I made Thai Shrimp Soup from leftover shells and shrimp that I had a few days before…
I cooked enough spaghetti for three meals and then prepared a mushroom and chicken sauce which will go with two meals of the spaghetti…
finally, I produced a grilled cheese and onion on sourdough sandwich for my lunch…
I enjoy working in the kitchen, particularly when I can assemble a number of meals for the coming days…
13 Sunday Feb 2022
Posted in business, family, food, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Fairmont Winnipeg, food, grandson, memories, moments, Olympics, remembering, snow, Tea, tea-to-go, treat, Valentines, weather, widow
a number of months ago, on Mother’s Day, I had a tea-to-go from the Velvet Glove at the Fairmont Winnipeg…
it was delightful and the presentation was beautiful…
recently they posted on social media that they were having another for Valentine’s Day… I was quick to check with my grandson to see if he would be able to pick it up for me, and once I received his confirmation, I called and ordered it…
upon arrival it looked just as good as last time…
the sandwiches were delicious… I enjoyed each one, but my favourite was the cream cheese and cucumber;-)…
next were the desserts… little bites of delight…
the tea I had was Flora’s Berry Garden and there is some Earl Grey to have later…
it was lovely to enjoy this lovely lunch, watching the Olympics, as the snow was falling again…
I was so full, I couldn’t eat the last few bites of dessert, but I devoured them after supper, lol…
my beloved was a great romantic and special treats like this bring back so many wonderful memories of previous Valentine celebrations…
I have been, and continue to be, blessed…
12 Saturday Feb 2022
Posted in business, food, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, charcuterie board, chocolate, cookies, delicious, flown, food, memories, moments, nest, not-for-profit, Oak Hammock Marsh, supper, treat, Valentine's Day, widow
I’ve always loved Valentine’s Day… from getting flowers from my beloved, to making heart shaped sugar cookies for the girls’ classrooms for years, to taking roses to my colleagues…
in later years, once the girls had flown the nest, we would have a special dinner… often steak and lobster…
this year I ordered a charcuterie board from Oak Hammock Marsh, one of our local not-for-profits, for my dinner tonight…
it was delivered to my door and looked festive…
there were cheeses, olives, crackers, cold cuts, fruit, nuts, herbs, even a bit of chocolate… and it came on a nice wooden board…
tonight I enjoyed half of it, and will finish it either tomorrow or Monday…
was thinking of my beloved as I enjoyed this treat…
15 Saturday Jan 2022
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, dimsum, dinner, food, Gimli Fish, moments, tasty, Technology, widow
had some very nice dimsum for dinner recently…
I love dimsum but appear to be out of the delivery area for any of the restaurants I like…
not too long ago I found some frozen when I was shopping online at Gimli Fish so I ordered three items…
finally got around to having them… they only took about five minutes in the microwave and were tasty…
going to order those again;-)…
13 Thursday Jan 2022
Posted in business, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cache, Cornell Lab, crew, food, garden, gray, learning, moments, nature, red, snow, squirrels, Technology, widow
recently watched an interesting Cornell Lab webinar about chickadees and learned something about squirrels…
gray squirrels hide their food – one seed, peanut, or acorn – at a time, with each item in a different place… and they remember where each bit is…
red squirrels hide theirs in one spot…
now it makes more sense to me as to why they scare birds and other squirrels away from any of the feeders as they consider them to be their property, lol…
this little red guy was at it this morning, chasing away the crew of sparrows…
and a bit later, this gray one was sharing the deck happily with the sparrows;-)…
maybe the red one was having a nap, lol…
08 Saturday Jan 2022
Posted in business, family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, COVID, delicious, dinner, food, Modern Plate Catering, moments, pudding, widow
so happy to have my Friday night dinner delivered from ModernPlate… they produced weekly meals between November, 2020 and May, 2021…
at that time they ended the Friday night meals, so I was pleased (for me) to see that it was back, but sorry (for them) that we’ve come back to this…
I also ordered a spinach salad with feta, fennel, seeds and pecans, which I had for lunch… it was very tasty…
the dinner is for two so I get at least two meals from it… this one was pork loin with smashed potatoes and Brussel sprouts…
and then there was dessert;-)… kept half of one piece of the cranberry and orange sticky toffee pudding…and sent the rest home with my grandson… which was a good plan, because I would have eaten more if it was here, lol…
such a treat to have meals made for me… and they are always delicious…
25 Saturday Dec 2021
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, Christmas, family, food, garage, gifts, happy, joy, memories, moments, remembering, sadness, sleigh, vacillating, weather, widow
today I’ve been vacillating between joy and sadness…
joy at spending time this morning online with the kids in Ottawa as we opened our gifts;-)… they were in the sleigh, lol…
sadness that I am here alone, even if at my own choice…
joy, at spending time with my grandson and his girlfriend in the garage around the fire pit exchanging presents…
sadness that my beloved isn’t here…
joy, that my dinner was delicious… my favourite roast chicken, homemade stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy and turnip…
it looked a little beige, but tasted delicious…
sadness that I wasn’t able to see the rest of my Winnipeg family…
and back to joy as I remember I am home safe and healthy on this Christmas Day…
yup, up and down…
20 Monday Dec 2021
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, celebrate, Christmas, DeLuca's, elves, food, friends, happy, lunch, moments, treats, widow
had a wonderful time with my BS buddies to celebrate Christmas, even after the decision to stop gathering in person…
this morning a charcuterie board arrived from DeLuca’s and I divided it into five along with a veggie tray, crackers and pistachios… there was ranch dip with it and I made some fresh hummus to go along with all the other goodies…
a couple of elves fetched gifts and then dropped them off at other locations with the boxes of food…
shortly after that we gathered by Skype and enjoyed our meal… there was lots of conversation and laughter… eventually we went around the rectangle and opened gifts…
lots of thought had gone into each offering… there were cozy things, handmade goodies, items for the kitchen, donations and love;-)…
we slid back into Skyping without a hitch… we had only been meeting in person since the end of July…
these are some of the most special people in my life…
I am blessed…
19 Sunday Dec 2021
Posted in business, family, food, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Christmas, COVID, dinner, family, food, friends, grandson, health, lockdown, moments, time, widow
yesterday I made the decision to go into my own personal lockdown…
it was a very hard decision at this time of year, but I have been struggling with the worry of getting sick after all these months of taking such care…
so, my Monday/Tuesday group will meet by Skype tomorrow for our Christmas celebration… I’d ordered a charcuterie board and I will divide it up with some veggies… two of my friends will pick up gifts and then drop off the snack packages before our call…
lunch and goodies via Skype… just like we’ve done before, lol…
and I won’t be having my grandson over for lunch on Christmas Day, although possibly he will stop by for a short visit in the garage… or go to my daughter’s for Christmas dinner…
presents will be picked up, phone and video calls made…
I have all the things I need in the freezer (I think) to make a lovely chicken dinner on Saturday…
another solo Christmas, and although I will miss everyone, I feel I will be safe…
and at this point that seems the most important thing;-)…
21 Sunday Nov 2021
Posted in business, family, food, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Christmas, dinner, food, grandson, happy, moments, shopping, spaghetti, widow
my grandson brought over some items he had picked up for me and stayed for dinner…
we had fresh spaghetti (which we picked up last week) and meatballs with a tomato sauce I made last week…
our meal was finished off with garlic bread and a salad…
a lovely visit and Christmas wishes discussed;-)…
hard to believe that there are only 34 days until the big day…
herbiggirlpants 